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Sunday, January 1, 2006

For as long as we've been together, Julie and I have made a big deal out of our first bird of the year. One year, in an effort to make sure she got eastern bluebird as her first species of the new year, I blindfolded her and guided her to the studio window and told her exactly when and where to look. She got it.

This morning I glanced out the window and saw a male northern cardinal, then remembered that this was NEW YEAR'S DAY! And this was my FIRST BIRD of 2006! Hey, it's a pretty good one, though. It could have easily been a house sparrow--we've been invaded this winter. Among the first 10 bird species I've seen in 2006 are eastern bluebird, eastern phoebe, and pileated woodpecker.

About Bill

Bill of the Birds

Bill Thompson III is the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest by day. He's also a keen birder, the author of many books, a dad, a field trip leader, an ecotourism consultant, a guitar player, the host of the "This Birding Life" podcast, a regular speaker/performer on the birding festival circuit, a gentleman farmer, and a fungi to be around. His North American life list is somewhere between 673 and 675. His favorite bird is the red-headed woodpecker. His "spark bird" was a snowy owl. He has watched birds in 25 countries and 44 states. But his favorite place to watch birds is on the 80-acre farm he shares with his wife, artist/writer Julie Zickefoose. Some kind person once called Bill "The Pied Piper of Birding" and he has been trying to live up to that moniker ever since.